


Battle Plan

by Merfilly



Series: Rise Up, Rebels [17]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 00:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6589630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As much as Padmé, and Anakin, want to revel in their reunion with the children, there is still an Empire to break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Battle Plan

Padmé would not forget the sight of Anakin, even in the new life support armor, sprawled on the couch with the twins sleeping on him ever. Even so, she knew they couldn't take too much time to plan the next strikes. In the six months since they had captured, and supposedly killed, Darth Vader, the Alliance had been capitalizing on their gains, enrolling many systems into their cause.

All of it would be for nothing if they did not cut the head off the monster that was the Empire soon. The Emperor had proven too many times that he excelled in wholesale destruction, and there were rumors of new weapons being built to start wiping out system resistance.

She lifted Luke first to carry him to his bed, and Anakin was smart enough to shift and lift Leia to follow her. He was surprised when he noticed the third bed in the children's cabin, but the few possessions he saw near it were ones that marked it out as being Ahsoka's. That was one meeting he was not looking forward to, but he'd managed to come to terms with Obi-Wan. He could make it work with his former Padawan as well.

"Ahsoka sleeps with them?" he asked once they were back in the narrow corridor between cabins.

"She refuses to let me convert space for her," Padmé admitted. "Insists that it is her place to be with them. Obi-Wan and I offered space in our cabins, but she won't take it."

Anakin wondered at that; it would not be a matter of privacy, as Ahsoka had never complained about sleeping wherever she dropped in an army full of men. And she had accompanied Padmé numerous times in tighter space than the _Stubborn Hope_ offered. Maybe it would make more sense when he got to understand the changes his Fall had brought out in her.

They walked back to the common room, and Padmé pinged the other two to come join them. She heard Artoo and Threepio both go forward; the astromech was capable of maintaining watch on controls, and Threepio could convey any messages necessary. She busied herself getting caf for herself and Ahsoka, while steeping a tea for Obi-Wan. Anakin watched her, noting how familiar she was with this simple routine.

How many battle plans had she had to strategize, or lay out for Obi-Wan to craft? He really didn't want to know, and his rage roiled some at the position she had been in for the last four and a half years.

Ahsoka was first in, wearing plastoid armor in the form of a breastplate, arm guards, and shin guards. Her slim form was solid, her lekku much longer now, especially the central headtail at the back, and her montrals had begun to curve more as they lengthened. She had two lightsabers clipped to her belt, slightly curved in the hilts. They were different than the last pair he had seen her with… but then, they would be.

Obi-Wan came in behind her, back in his robes, though the hood was down. He had his hands hidden inside the sleeves, though he gratefully accepted the tea Padmé handed him while Ahsoka took her caf and went to perch on the galley counter.

"We have chairs," Padmé reminded.

"I'm fine," Ahsoka countered, her eyes anywhere but Anakin.

Anakin realized he could not read her at all, that she was as shielded as he had learned to keep himself, so the Emperor could not find him.

"We're going to plan how to get to Coruscant, and the Emperor?" Obi-Wan asked.

"You'll never make it onto the planet," Anakin told them, seriously. "Nothing is smuggled on or off anymore. The Inquisitors and the Hands would find you."

"Then how do we do this?" Padmé asked him evenly. "We have to get to him, and an assault on Coruscant would cause far too much death and destruction."

Anakin considered for a long moment. Before they changed out his armor, he might have been able to get them on planet as his captives, claiming to have escaped. But now?

"We attack the Maw Installation instead," Anakin said. "It's where they are designing the latest weapons. If we take it out, and the Moff in charge of it, it will severely weaken the Empire. Once that's done, your forces can possibly start convincing Imperial Fleets to defect. Get the right one… and you'll be able to reach Coruscant."

"The Maw Installation?" Padmé asked, even as she felt a new bloom of hope. Did Anakin actually know where the Fleet's super-weapons came from?

"Grand Moff Tarkin is certain I do not know it is there, but I worked carefully to uncover his meddling," Anakin said, noting with a piece of his mind that Ahsoka had bared her sharp teeth at mention of the man. "I saw him as the only real threat to my… to Emperor Palpatine." He would never call that man 'master' again. "In the Maw, there is a facility. I am certain of it. Getting in will be difficult, but a Force user should be able to pilot us through."

"Risky. And how to destroy such a place, even if we get in? It will be guarded, yes?"

"Minimally, given how difficult it should be to reach," Anakin answered Obi-Wan's question. "It will have to be dealt with no matter what. Using it to weaken the Emperor will open the door to what needs to happen."

"Then I will contact our allies, and put together a small strike force," Obi-Wan said. "We are very short on Force using pilots though. Myself, Ahsoka —"

"Me." Anakin drew himself up. "It will be more difficult than crossing a nebula, but if we use slave-circuits, I can get us all in."

He waited, as the three other adults weighed his words. Could they trust him so far? That was probably their thought now.

"We'll do it." Ahsoka was the one to speak. "Padmé, you and the twins will remain on the _Hope_ this time. You'll hold back, outside the actual strike."

"Yes. This fight has to be yours," Padmé agreed.

They had the beginning of a plan, and the decision to trust had been made.

Anakin just hoped he didn't let anyone down this time. As much anger as he still had, it had a new focus, on the man that had twisted him, lied to him, and stolen from him all the important parts that had ever mattered.


End file.
